Thanks, Joey. He's becoming more appealing by the minute.

I look at Harison's all the time, though I have no business getting such a large and aggressive rose. If I ever have a larger property one day, though, it's happening!

Anybody for 'Austrian Copper'? which I have never been able to get to grow well, and which has a reputation for being a black spot magnet, which luckily isn't a problem here. I saw a plant in full bloom once in the Olympia, Washington area: nothing more spectacular. AC's close relatives R. foetida and 'Persian Yellow' are as yellow as 'Harison's Yellow', and they do grow for me, albeit very scragglily. "Foetida" is a misnomer, at least to my nose. The blooms have a boiled linseed oil smell, similar to the heavy undertone of the scent of 'Fruehlingsgold', and in the case of that rose coming, I imagine, from its Spinosissima ancestry. R. foetida's buds smell like Tang! It's a happy world that has roses in it.

Speaking of spectacular, and while I'm thinking about sunset-colored roses, the Tea commonly sold under the name 'Clementina Carbonieri' is pretty amazing with its blooms of gold-peach-pink and its red new growth. This will make a climber. The whole plant is extremely handsome, but the blooms do fry readily, which is a consideration to bear in mind.

I'm in awe at the insanely gorgeous roses everyone has posted here!!! They are jaw droppingly stunning!!!! Thank you everyone!

Tammy thank you for the wonderful story! I hadn't heard that before!!

Melissa here are baby Austrian Copper and Clementina Carbonieri.

Sheila - totally gorgeous! I've never before seen a bush shot of Austrian Copper. And Clementina Carbonieri is a blooming fool!!! WOW!!!

Sheila, I knew you were a right'un. Compliments on your roses!

@Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR thank you for sharing. Your roses always look amazing! With your property you have space to grow things I can't. Your Austrian Copper is so striking and special. And your Clementina Carbonieri is a huge reason why she's on my wishlist for next year.

I only have a few OGRs but I think my favorite is Reine des Violettes. The fragrance is so intoxicating!

@seil zone 6b MI thank you for sharing! I have RdV coming in a few weeks from HCR and I'm really looking forward to planting her! I realize it might take a few years for a small own root to take off, but seems worth the wait to me. So beautiful and fragrant too!

Thank you for asking.

My favorite Old Garden Rose is The white rose of York, or Alba Semi-Plena

My favorites among the roses I grow are;

Westside Road Cream Tea, Duchess de Brabant, Mme. Berkeley.

Alliance Franco-Russe is blooming in a spectacular manner today as April approaches.

Mrs. Dudley Cross has the biggest blooms I've ever seen on a rose in my garden, c. 5 inches wide. and the scent is rich and penetrating and seductively Tea Rose.

I have always been impressed with the bloom frequency that 'Grandmothers Hat' produces. It is the last week in March and G.H. is in full bloom in my garden. It is the only rose of it's class that has the long bloom season of a Tea class rose, where I live near San Francisco, Ca it blooms from March through most of November. Plus it has many side buds so each bloom cycle is extended.

I'd like to know how it stands out from other membrs of its class genetically this came to be,

Love and roses,

Lux.

Seil - I wish I could smell your luscious RdV!!! Mmmmmm :)

@Melissa Northern Italy zone 8 the white moss is called Shailer's white moss. I fell in love with it 5 years ago but only aquired it last year. I am not sure it will flower this year as it arrived as a severely cut back bare root. Here is a photo I took in a garden centre ages ago :)

Yes! Isn't it MARVELOUS? Good luck with yours!

I was really sad I wouldn't be able to find a white Jacques Cartier/Marchesa Boccella rose (only appear to be available in Germany), but there are other Portlands that look similar: Marie de St. Jean and Blanc de Vibert. Has anyone had experience with them?

I ordered Marie de St. Jean but the twig they sent me failed to grow. I think it was Vintage.

I'm hoping Greenmantle's offerings will be a bit more robust!

OMG Mette Bee, that moss is beautiful! I can see why you fell in love with it -- I'd like to see a mature plant of that in full bloom.

Thanks for starting this post! I’ve been following and now have a wishlist for 2022🤩. Do any of you know if these lovelies would have a chance in hot and humid, no-spray 8a Mississippi? Thank you all for the advice and please keep posting your beautiful pictures.

*Rose de Rescht

*Perle d’Or

*Mystic Beauty

*Mme Ernest Calvat

*Mrs BR Cant

*Clotilde Soupert

*Marchesa Boccella

Sheila, love your Clemmie rose and can't wait to get mine and see how she does. MetteBee, your Shailer's white moss is so pretty! Wish I had room for it in my yard.

Sunny Mississippi, I can't speak with any authority about your conditions, but I suspect that Perle d'Or will do well for you. It is such a tough and beautiful rose -- It does well here, it does well in California, it does well in TX apparently (because it has been designated as Earth Kind) so...

'Blanc de Vibert' has a reputation as a shy bloomer, and I can't say the reputation is unjustified. Mine is in a really unfavorable spot, with very little sun. It might do better in a better situation. Something to mention is that the plant, if little pruned, gets huge, much larger than other roses of its group: mine is a couple of meters high and wide.

"but there are other Portlands that look similar: Marie de St. Jean and Blanc de Vibert. Has anyone had experience with them?"

I've grown 'Blanc de Vibert' yes. Horrible plant that deserves all of the bad reviews it gets. In the first flush it would cover itself with hundreds of buds, of which maybe 15% would actually develop into flowers - tiny, ordinary, poorly formed flowers with poor substance. It qualifies as a repeat-blooming rose by producing three more flowers in September.

I love an honest opinion Paul.

Me too! Thanks @User--saves me some heartache!! I'll go with something else :D

Sheila, your Rosa foetida 'bicolor' (Austrian Copper) is just incredible! I'm glad I have him and a couple others in the species/OGR vein coming from HCR.

I've always been fond of Lady Hillingdon (don't grow her, but Peter Schneider says she's hardy enough for here), Madame Isaac Pereire (new in spring 2019 IIRC from RVR) is one that captured my attention back as a youth (teen), Perle d'Or I loved enough to get in 2015 from ARE, but she's definitely not done well; it's just too cold here. I have a couple others as well as some on the way for 2021, but all too new for appropriate opinion.

I *used* to have what I believed Cardinal de Richelieu that I rustled with permission from a property back in the early 2000's, but it came down with RRD and had to be removed. It was a lovely, fragrant, purple with white based petals that covered itself in bloom each June. I miss it quite a bit, and it was one of my first once blooming roses at the time aside from a wild sourced Rosa palustris I pulled from near a local lake's roadside access point. Ahh, youth...

Steven

Gorgeous Old Garden Rose Photos Friends! Too difficult to decide.

Today my favorites are:

E Verate Hermanos Tea Rose

Tamalpais Homestead Tea Rose

Florence Bower Tea Rose

Davis Store Climber ( My sea anemone rose, Lol!)

Benny Lopez

Madame Berkeley

Seil, Love your Reine des Violette.

Kitty, marvelous roses! I wish I could grow Teas. As a possible step in that direction (if I can find someone to dig) I have today become the proud owner of three cubic yards of sand. Our impossibly heavy soil needs lightening up. Still dreaming of the warm climate roses

Melissa,

Italy must be amazing to live in. Gorgeous beaches! You can grow roses in above ground beds... I am putting together a wood frame above ground garden bed and filling it w/Miracle Gro bed soil And putting a fabric bottom in it. You can build these above ground beds over your sand. Or put roses in pots! I put them in ground after amending soil-really transforming soil by adding tons of manure and Miracle Gro Soil, above ground beds and pots.

Old roses often grow tall and sonetimes gangly but lovely old fashioned roses. You could grow other roses, too such as miniatures, polyanthas, hybrid teas, bush roses.... etc. and any rose. Zone 8 is excellent for roses.

Teenagers and neighbors help me garden. Maybe you have a neighbor needing a little extra cash who can help you? .

Have fun!

Kitty - I'm in awe of your roses!!!! My goodness...they are real beauties!!

Melissa - that's a lot of sand! :) What we do for our roses! :)

Rosecanadian,

Thank you. They are pretty OGR.

Kitty, sounds like you know something about ItaIian beaches! I certainly would love to visit the sea, but we've been in quarantine most of the time for over a year now, and I've been staying home. When I do go to the beach I like to go to Nice so I can practice my atrocious French. I'm REALLY looking forward to getting out once I'm vaccinated, May if I'm lucky, but likely won't take a vacation until fall.

I'm a long time rose grower, my specialty--that is, what doesn't die for me--being the once-blooming old roses of European origin plus ramblers. Your methods wouldn't work for me. We don't water any plants in the garden after their first year. Roses are drought tolerant plants, but to survive months without rain or irrigation they need to get their roots down deep in the earth; planting in limitied soil wouldn't work. I am plotting to dig big holes and heavily amend them with sand and quantities of organic matter, and, once more, attempt Tea roses. I've tried them in the past, but the only ones that have thriven have been a few planted close to the house, on terraced beds with soil brought in, on top of masonry debris enriched by the organic matter supplied by generations of weeds. The Teas think that's fabulous, but they hate the heavy clay of the rest of the garden, and no amount of amendment seems to make it workable. Still, I keep trying.

I have a helper, but having him available, suitable weather, and cash to pay him simultaneously simply hasn't worked out for several months.

Your roses are gorgeous. I hope to have a garden of Teas as well one day: just keep trying!

@rosecanadian: Still trying to lighten the soil! Also I need it for repotting, rather than a zillion bags from the construction supply center.

Melissa - you don't water roses in the garden after their first year? And Italy is hot! I am so surprised! And that's really good not to be so wasteful with water...unlike me. Awesome!

I don’t have much experience with many of my roses yet but I have had several blooms on my Marchesa Boccella and I just adore her. I also have 3 Granny Grimmetts (accidentally!) but haven’t had a bloom yet. I have the Duke of Edinburgh coming in a couple of months. I’m not sure if Granny Grimmetts and Duke of Edinburgh are truly OGR though?

I do the same as Melissa. Growing many varieties, they have to get their roots down deep. I may water some year 2, some roses takes longer than others to get their roots down deep, I have learned. But I always deep water, when I do to encourage it. My roses d ok wonderfully with this treatment.

Melissa in Italy does get something like 46 inches of rain per year in the Apennines. Sadly, that no watering established plants would not work in our US hot Western areas where rain can be in the single digits per year. Here about 18.35 inches per year is the norm.

I know you would have rain too Alana thankfully.

Yes I do usually have rain. I do recall one summer it missed me for what seemed like all summer. I was so distraught. Praying for afternoon summer storms this year🙏

LauraLG, I would so love to see your Granny Grimmetts and Duke of Edinburgh, when they are in bloom. Hope you will post.

@Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR Where I live the average rainfall per year is just over 15 inches 😭 so, so dry. I have to irrigate, no other option if you want to have anything other than the MOST drought tolerant rock garden here.

I think that even with the almost 50 inches of rain that I can get, I'd need to water in the summer. we can go more than 8 weeks without rain in the summer...and the summer drought seems to be getting longer each year. Even so, watering my summer "drought" garden here is waaaaaaaaaaaay different than watering my summer desert garden in southern Arizona. Climate makes such a difference! I enjoy that I get to hear about gardening all over the world from people on this forum.

Melissa, I am amazed to hear about how you grow roses in Italy. I agree with librarian that it is wonderful to hear how many Houzz members grow tgeir roses all over the US snd world. It feels like I am traveling to Italy when I speak with you, Melissa. I hope you will share more as you begin your rose garden this year. I would love to see how it works out.

I love this book & movie,”Under the Tuscan Sun.” It’s a great book/movie staged in Italy! I want to travel to Italy and enjoy the beaches and eat Italian ice cream & pizza! I have been to Italy years ago-it was beautiful!

About not watering established roses, I'm glad others have come in with their comments. I agree that it depends on one's annual rainfall, and also soil has something to do with it: our clay soil holds water, but very sandy soils, or shallow soils, might be less forgiving. Librarian_gardener, I lived for years in Olympia, Washington and grew roses there. I learned about the PNW climate, summer droughts (new to me: I'm from Florida, land of summer thunderstorms), and watering restrictions, and that was when I began to experiment with not watering roses or other garden plants, and learned how drought tolerant they are. Roses, and a great many shrubs, trees, and perennials can perfectly well handle a two month drought; they'll stop flowering, they won't grow much, but they'll be fine. They can take a lot more drought than that. Back in 2016-17 here in Italy we went a full year with drastically low precipitation and very high summer temperatures. Our entire province actually ran out of water, which had to be brought in by truck from a reservoir on the other side of the Apennines. Result in the garden? Everything lived; the plants didn't even look that woeful, all things considered.

When I moved to Italy in 2000 I had my Pacific Northwest experience of summer drought in mind when I started gardening here. I knew I wanted a garden that didn't require irrigation after the first year. I knew from my experiences in Washington that water isn't an infinite resource, and I believed it would be irresponsible to lavish water on a garden when thousands or millions of people depend on that same water supply for drinking, cooking, and bathing. I believed I could have my cake and eat it as well: that I could have a great garden and yet not draw heavily on a precious necessity. I was right.

There are limits I have to accept. My repeat blooming roses' reflowering depends on the weather: if it doesn't rain, they don't bloom. Plant growth is slow, as we seldom have sun and water at the same time; on the other hand, the plants are sturdy. I choose plants that are adapted to the Mediterranean climate pattern of chilly wet winters and hot dry summers: fortunately, a large portion of classic garden plants are of Mediterranean or continental origin and thrive in these conditions.

Right now we're two months and counting in a highly unseasonal late winter-early spring drought. The roses and other plants don't mind: they're leafing out like mad. With climate change I consider our area at relatively high risk. Summer water here is from groundwater stored from winter precipitation, as the Apennines have no year-round snow pack. I do what I can to make my garden as drought-resilient as possible, as I suspect we have more lengthy droughts in our future.

@Kitty, thanks!

Melissa, Thank you for your explanation of your weather and climate. It is unique to me, but a wonderful and thoughtful gardening plan. The idea of underground stored water makes perfect sense and great to hear your roses leafing out and growing in the drought-fabulous! I know the gardens in Italy can be beautiful! It is a beautiful country w/roses, grape vineyards, olives, and love the arts-sculptures/paintings/opera/classical music), and architectural design. PNW and Florida are beautiful, too. (I lived in CA, PNW & NY) I see you have lived in many beautiful places. What are your favorite places to visit in Italy? Are you Native American relocated to Italy or native Italian? What brought you to Italy? I’d move there just for the beauty after seeing the movie (read book) , “Under the Tucson Sun.” She has beautiful gardens in movie, too!

@Kitty, about Italy. I'm a native of the U.S. who married a guy born and reared in Italy who spent most of his working life in the U.S. When DH retired we moved, with our baby daughter, to Italy for what was going to be a two year stay, but turned into permanent residence when we bought an old, no longer commercially viable farm. For favorite places, I like cultural tourism, mainly art museums and monuments, plus getting out and talking with people. I've never had much money and have no taste for shopping or nightlife, so I do my traveling starving-student-style, picnicking and self-catering and staying in hostels, and like it well enough. It's a good way to meet people.

For someone with a taste for art, Italy is a treasure house. Not just Florence, Venice, Rome, and so on; Italy is packed what I call "one Michelin star" cities, place like Parma, Ferrara, Perugia, Piacenza, Cremona, places most foreign tourists don't have the time to visit in their one or two weeks in this country. When I do get away, and it's been quite a while now, with Coronavirus still raging more than a year since the epidemic began, I travel in northern and central Italy. The furthest south I've ever gotten is Naples, and that was a good many years ago. The last trip I took was in fall 2019. I went to Perugia and Florence, visiting in the latter the Bargello Museum and Palazzo Pitti, this last which blew me away entirely, though I had been there before. It's the first place I'm going to visit when I can travel again, except perhaps for a trip to the beach. (Perugia has a stupendous museum, too, but it's almost all religious art, and trying to take in all those Nativities and Crucifixions in one visit nearly killed me). A lifetime isn't nearly enough to see it all.

Italy does have beautiful landscapes, and, though we're not Tuscany, I live in one of them. Living on the farm is like simultaneously being home and on vacation. It's a great place for gardening, and the area is wonderful for getting out and going on walks, as DD and I like to do, when we're not in a red zone like now. The current regulations require us to stay home except for essential errands. Fortunately for us, "home" is thirty acres of meadow, wood, and garden, so we're neither cramped nor bored: very fortunate people, all things considered, when the entire country a year on is still struggling with this ghastly epidemic.

Lady Hillingdon. There's both a bush and climbing form.

Beautiful, @hugogurll!

All of Italy is "una meraviglia" -- marvelously pretty!